This pilaf is one of those recipes.

 It takes 90 minutes to prepare, 35 minutes to bake and probably just 10 minutes to devour. Like any Indian rice dish, it requires a dash of spice and a whole load of TLC. The end result is a buttery platter of golden rice and crisp-tender vegetables that pair perfectly with any curry or simply with a bowl of lime and coriander yoghurt.

The idea is to partially cook each component of the dish before arranging it in a buttered roasting tin, covering with damp greaseproof paper (cartouche) and foil, and then baking until the rice is steamed to fluffy perfection. It’s a foolproof way to ensure your rice is spot on every time. The best bits the golden brown edges but don’t tell anyone I told you that.

I love to ribbon vegetables; whether they’re for a salad, pasta or rice, they look so beautiful and are quick to cook. The ones I find work best are all used in this recipe – carrots, courgettes and asparagus. However, you can use any veggies you like. I also added baby pearl potatoes, paneer (of course, don’t you know me at all?), petit pois, cashews and echalions (banana shallots). Be experimental and add whatever you fancy.

I’ve intentionally kept the spicing mellow in this pilaf. There’s nothing worse than killing the flavour of fresh vegetables and golden rice with OTT spicing. It happens all the time in restaurants and makes me sad. When cooking rice, you’ve got to remember that it will take on every flavour you add and this is particularly important in things like baked rice and biryanis because of the slow cooking. It has lots of time to infuse with the spices so it’s very easy to go overboard. Don’t fall into this trap.

I’ve added black cumin and black cardamom for a smoky flavour, saffron and green cardamom. They are perfectly balanced against all the sweet, buttery vegetables.

This recipe makes enough for eight hungry people because it was simply made for sharing. The leftovers are delicious the next day and even the day after that.

Baked Buttered Vegetable Pilaf
Serves 8

Ingredients

550g golden Sela rice
500g baby pearl potatoes, parboiled
400g carrots, peeled and ribboned
150g asparagus, ribboned
450g courgette, ribboned
225g paneer, cut into rectangles and grilled
5 banana shallots, peeled and sliced in half – root trimmed but left on
100g cashew nuts
150g petits pois

Hot water to boil the rice
Salt, to taste

100g butter
2 tbsp oil
4 green cardamom pods, lightly crushed
1 black cardamom pod, whole
2 inch cinnamon stick
2 whole cloves
1 tsp black cumin
1 tbsp grated ginger
2 whole green chillies
150ml water
Large pinch saffron

Fresh coriander, to garnish

Method

1. Wash the rice and soak the rice in cold water for an hour.

2. In a large pan, melt the butter and add the oil. Add in the cardamom pods, black cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, black cumin, ginger, cashews and chillies. Saute for a few moments before adding the potatoes. Allow the sizzle on a low heat for 5 minutes.

3. Add the shallots and paneer and keep on a low heat, trying not to break the shallots. Once everything s lightly golden, season with salt, add the saffron and 150ml water, then switch off the heat and set aside.

4. Drain the soaking liquid from the rice. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and add the rice. Boil it until it’s 50% cooked, just as you would boil pasta. Drain and set aside.

5. Grease a large roasting tray with butter and add the drained rice. Pile on the potato mixture, plus all of the ribboned vegetables and give it a very gentle mix. Try not to break up the vegetables.

6. Take a piece of greaseproof paper and scrunch it up under the tap, squeezing out any excess water. Place this directly on top of the rice and vegetables. Cover the tray with foil, leaving room for it to rise up as the rice steams.

7. Bake in a pre-heated oven t 180C for 35 minutes.

8. Remove from the oven and allow to sit, covered for 10 minutes. Remove the foil and paper and fluff up the rice with a fork. Arrange on a platter or into bowls. Garnish with fresh coriander.

Serve with your favourite curries or like I have it… with plain Greek yoghurt and nothing more.

Love Sanjana

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Who said vegetarian main dishes can’t be as breathtakingly beautiful as a regal, Mughalai-style roast? Created in the same vain as Dum Aloo, Paneer Butter Masala and Shammi Kebabs, this traditional dish from Uttar Pradesh makes a big deal of the humble cauliflower by serving it whole. Yes, whole.

Richly spiced and cooked with yoghurt and creamy cashew paste, the whole cauliflower is treated with more respect than any vegetable could ever wish for. It is first rubbed with golden turmeric, salt and butter, and then roasted in a hot oven to concentrate its flavours and give it an incredible smoky, caramelised flavour. Finally, it’s simmered in the yoghurt and cashew sauce until it sucks up all the spices and becomes juicy and robust.

Unfortunately, Gobi Musallam is an elusive dish I’ve never spotted on a restaurant menu in the UK. They obviously don’t know what they’re missing. Forget boring old Aloo Gobi, this isn’t your average cauliflower curry – this is your secret dinner party weapon you use to impress your mates and astonish any irritating Indian food snobs you might know. Come on, we all know one.

Gobi Musallam makes a stunning centrepiece for the dinner table and is perfect for sharing. Give everyone a large spoon and tuck in, breaking away the tender morsels of cauliflower, peas and spicy sauce. Scoop up with flaky paratha and a splodge of chilli and cumin-spiked yoghurt.

Cauliflower never tasted this good.

Gobi Musallam

Ingredients:
1 whole cauliflower, leaves removed but root left on, rubbed with salt, turmeric and 25g softened butter
100g peas (I use frozen)
50g butter
150g fresh tomatoes, pureed
1 tbsp concentrated tomato paste
240ml milk

For the spice paste:
1 onions peeled and roughly chopped
2 green chillies
12 cashew nuts
1 clove garlic, peeled
1 inch piece ginger, peeled
1 inch cinnamon stick
2 cloves
½ tsp nutmeg
6 green cardamom pods, husks removed
4 tbsp natural yoghurt
2 tsp salt
Fresh coriander leaves, desiccated coconut and kalonji seeds to garnish

Method

1. Place the turmeric-rubbed cauliflower on an ovenproof tray and roast at 175C for 25 minutes or until tender. Remove from the oven and set aside.

2. Grind all the ingredients for the spice paste until smooth.

3. In a large, non-stick pan, melt the butter then add the spice paste. Cook, stirring all the time until lightly golden brown. Add the blended tomatoes, tomato puree and milk. Allow to simmer on a low heat for 8 minutes. Add the peas.

4. Add the whole cauliflower and baste with the sauce. Cove with a lid and cook for 5 minutes. Remove the lid and baste again, cooking for 10 minutes with the lid off. Serve in a large bowl or platter, garnished with coriander leaves, coconut and kalonji seeds.

Love Sanjana

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A love of sweets must run in my blood. Back in Kenya my grandfather worked in a sugar cane factory, boiling up vats of syrup bigger than a fully-grown wildebeest. He even knew syrup temperatures without having to use a sugar thermometer. My grandad’s passion for cooking with sugar led him to become one of the best sweet makers and teachers I’ve ever known.

My other grandfather was head chef to one of the most well-known sugar merchants’ in East Africa. He’d rustle up the most spectacularly orange chickpea flour fudge and be ready to teach anyone willing to learn. Being just a tot when he passed away, my mum passed on his wonderful recipes to me.

Indeed, the very nature of both my grandfathers’ livelihoods depended on the sweet stuff, which is why I put my love of sugar down to it pumping through my veins.

What the fudge?

These diamonds of sweet fudge have a delicious, crumbly and chewy texture from the ground cashew nuts. Laced with ground cardamom and vanilla extract, floral undertones are created beneath a creamy layer of white chocolate. As soon as you take a bite, the fudge begins to melt on your tongue and a burst of subtle flavours take over. Bliss.

Elaborate Indian sweets like jalebi (orange spirals soaked in syrup) and mohanthal (chickpea flour fudge) are abundant, but the beauty of burfi (the type of milk fudge we’re making today) is that it’s one of the simplest, yet most wonderful sweets to make at home. You can even do it in the microwave.

The world of Indian sweets is a vast ocean of colours, flavours, textures and smells. The law of making Indian sweets is that it’s not possible to skimp on the sugar, milk and ghee (clarified butter).

From burfi to rasmalai (sweet paneer dumplings in milk), dairy is the second most important component to whipping up a batch of treats. Heavily reliant on ever-revered cows and buffalo for producing milk, Indians love using it for sweets.

I have an ambivalent relationship with Indian fudge. This sweet pushes my ‘crave’ button at the strangest times. When I take a bite, I’m a chubby six-year old, asking my parents if I can be treated to a trip to Leicester at the weekend.

I remember visiting Leicester’s famous mile of pure Indian indulgence at Diwali time. Bright and colourful lights illuminate the route to beautiful sari shops, aroma-filled restaurants and of course, those bustling sweet shops.

Skipping to the Indian sweet shop is still something I love to do. Their vast arrays of treats in every colour and flavour you can imagine stir happiness inside me.

At the shop, the entire process is similar to buying a pick-n-mix; first you select which sweets you’d like (I usually go for the brightest colours), the shop assistant will box them up in a beautiful package, weigh them and then charge accordingly. Pretty diamonds of cashew nut fudge, along with chocolate and coconut varieties will almost always make an appearance in my box of goodies.

Cashew Nut and White Chocolate Burfi

Ingredients:

600g ground cashew nuts, (coarseness depends on your taste)
200ml water
250g sugar
1 tsp coarsely ground cardamom seeds
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp oil
100g white chocolate

Set aside a 12 inch cake tin greased with the 1 tsp of oil

Method:

1. Bring the sugar and water to boil in a large heavy based pan until the sugar syrup thermometer reaches 115°C/soft ball stage.

2. Quickly and carefully add the ground cashew nuts, vanilla extract and cardamom seeds. Mix together until the mixture resembles a non-sticky dough.

3. Place this mixture in the greased pan and smooth the surface as much as you possibly can because you are going to cover with chocolate. I use a hot metal spoon to get a completely flat surface. Cool overnight, but not in the fridge.

4. Melt the chocolate over a bain-marie and cover the set fudge with the melted chocolate. Smooth over and allow to cool at room temperature, until the chocolate sets.

5. Cut the chocolate fudge into diamond shapes or any other shape you may wish to. Decorate as you wish. I used sugar flowers and edible glitter.

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Let me introduce you to the first part of one of the most amazing brunches known to man (and woman) – Potato and Cashew Nut Curry with Little Deep Fried Breads, also known as Sukha Bateta Nu Shaak and Masala Poori.

My heart just did a little somersault.

My fondest memories of eating this dish lie with the time I lived with my parents. Waking up on sleepy Sunday mornings (or to be more accurate, Sunday midday in my case) to the smell of aromatic curry leaves, fresh ginger and freshly fried spicy dough permeated my nostrils, coaxing me out of bed and into the kitchen to witness exactly what everyone needs to experience at least once in life – Bateta Nu Shaak and Masala Poori for brunch.

The whole shebang was like a starved bear waking up from hibernation to the smell of honey-drenched baklava. Well, something like that anyway.

This dry curry epitomises Gujarati cooking with its fluffy potatoes, crunchy cashews and light spicing, complimented by a squeeze of zingy lemon juice. Garnish with a handful of chopped coriander and black pepper for the ultimate texture and flavour combination to be scooped up with some light and puffy poori.

Sautéing the potatoes in ghee gives the curry a wonderful buttery taste, but if you’re vegan, replace the ghee with oil. If you’re not, use the ghee – it’s really worth it.

As I’ve said before, Gujarati cooking is about keeping flavours simple (unlike the complex levels of spicing in other Indian cuisines), you can get away with using as little spice as possible, as long as you remember the cardinal rules: Keep it hot, sweet and sour, and don’t forget the curry leaves, ginger and fresh coriander.

(Serves 4-6)

Ingredients

1kg potatoes, peeled and diced into 1 inch cubes, then boiled in salted water until tender, drain
3 tbsp ghee
2 tsp whole cumin seeds
6 curry leaves
¼ tsp asafoetida (optional)
2 tsp green chilli, or to taste
3 tsp ginger, minced
10-15 whole cashew nuts
3 tbsp concentrated tomato purée
¼ tsp turmeric
3 tbsp chopped coriander
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp ground black pepper
Salt to taste

Method

1. Heat the ghee in a large non-stick pan, add the cumin seeds, ginger, chillies, curry leaves, asafoetida and cashew nuts. Sauté for a couple of minutes until aromatic and the cashews become golden. Add the tomato puree and turmeric and cook for a further 2 minutes. 

2. Add the boiled potatoes, reserving around 6-7 pieces. Mix gently and cook on a low heat. Meanwhile, mash the reserved potato cubes and mix into the rest of the potato curry. Cook on a very low heat for another 8-10 minutes, avoiding too much mixing. Add the salt, sugar, lemon, coriander and black pepper and remove from the heat.

Serve with freshly fried poori (which I will show you how to make next week if either of us can wait that long) and a bowl full of plain, natural yogurt and you’ll be in heaven.

Do you have a favourite Indian breakfast/brunch dish?

Here are a few of mine:

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